Chapter 434: Rapid City People's Assembly (Part )
December 1445, 8 in the Imperial calendar.

Ten days have passed since the Battle of Rapids City, and the ruins of the entire Rapids City have been cleaned up bit by bit.

The blood was washed off the streets, the rubble on the main streets was cleared, and the bodies of the dead on the streets were dragged away.

As the thugs who tried to take advantage of the fire were arrested, some neighborhoods gradually returned to their former order.

Every morning, some small markets began to appear nearby. Vegetable farmers pushed carts to the sheds at the street corners and placed fresh cabbages, peas and radishes on dirty single-layer wooden racks.

On the secondary streets, shops and pubs that had been closed opened their doors again after washing away the traces of smoke.

Walking under the shade of trees under the scorching sun, some citizens even had the illusion of returning to the old days.

It’s a pity that the corpses of scoundrels and traitors are still hanging on the flagpoles, and there are Salvation Army soldiers patrolling back and forth at every street entrance.

Under the layered eaves, you can also see sheds for storing grain and tents of refugees in the ruins.

But today, people who used to do nothing or clean up the ruins all walked out of their homes and headed towards the Cross Street Fountain Square in the sunset.

This is not a celebration of any festival, but the new lord of this city, Pope Horn, the leader of the Savior Army and the chosen grandson of God, is going to convene a meeting of believers.

There were not many believers in the early Messianic religion, perhaps only dozens or hundreds in one region, so it was naturally easy to hold a general meeting of believers.

But now there are thousands or even tens of thousands of believers in any region, so it is rare to see this kind of thing.

For the citizens, in the past during Catherine’s reign, they held small meetings within each block and guild, and then sent representatives to the city council for large meetings.

Calling so many people to the event at one time can only be described as a retro style of the Papal State of Savior.

Two days ago, the monks, wearing the Salvation Army's unique half-shawl priest robes, had already used tin loudspeakers to inform citizens along the way of the news.

Led by prestigious people and council members from all levels of neighborhoods, people formed a long and mighty river and headed towards the Cross Street Fountain Square.

Since the believers' assembly only convened adult believers, some teenagers were dissatisfied with being locked up at home and climbed onto the roof to watch the fun.

As far as the eye can see, the cross street is crowded with people. Waves of shoulders and heads even pass over the eaves and statues, and flow into the irregular octagonal square like rivers flowing into the sea.

A three-meter-high wooden platform was built in front of the square, and a bonfire was lit in front of the fountain in advance.

Footsteps stomped, linen and woolen cloth rubbed against each other, and the shouts and laughter of nearly ten thousand people hit people's eardrums in a chaotic manner.

However, this chaos did not last long, as black-clad soldiers armed with sticks, shields and forks rushed into the chaotic crowd.

There were even Holy Spear Cavalrymen with Holy Spears stuck in their boots who entered the square to maintain order. Amid the clattering sounds of sticks hitting human bodies, the noise and chaos of the crowd finally stopped for a moment.

In addition to maintaining order, these black-clad soldiers also carried a small basket and handed red-painted soybeans to each person, asking them to keep them well.

The citizens looked at the soybeans in their hands but found nothing unusual and just put them in their pockets or held them in their hands.

“Beep, beep, beep, beep—”

Amid the symphony of trumpets and organs, the crowd fell silent and looked at the figure that appeared behind the podium.

The young man walking in front, with a wheat-colored face and a smile, was the leader of the Salvation Army, the farmer Saint Sun Horn.

He was wearing an exquisitely crafted holy garment and a tall triple crown hat without a triple crown, and he walked leisurely to the center of the platform.

Behind him were dozens of city councilors and heads of various guilds.

They wore curly hats with tassels and robes woven with spiral leaf brocade. Some of them looked energetic, while others looked extremely listless, probably because they had been imprisoned by Horn for a long time.

Before the Believers' Conference began, Horn used various means to deal with these opinion leaders.

He came to Rapid City essentially to seek help based on his alliance, but now he is refusing to leave in order to annex this important commercial city.

It is certainly feasible to forcibly annex the country by force, but it is obvious that the Salvation Army’s military power is not yet strong enough to have great scholars to argue for it.

In order to unite more people and not want to give up Rapids City, Horn had to erect the archway.

Therefore, when clearing out the traitors in Rapid City, Horn deliberately confused some concepts and included many city councilors who were suspected or had engaged in dishonest business practices.

In order to protect their personal safety and assets, these city councilors bowed to Horn and became the new guides in a certain sense. Standing in the center of the platform, dozens of sound transmission monks brought from Zhendark Castle stood in several corners of the platform, opening their arms and facing the crowd in front of them.

"Everyone, this may be the first time we meet. Let me introduce myself. I am the sinner Horn, the true pope of the empire, the grandson of the chosen saint..."

The reason for this introduction is that the Holy Father of the Thousand River Valley has too many relatives. In order to distinguish himself from them, Horn can only add the title of "True".

He chattered on and on with the citizens about the origins of the Salvation Army and its great goals. As the citizens began to become increasingly drowsy, he finally got to the key point:

“…So, I came to Rapid City for only three things!

Our first task, which I believe everyone is concerned about, is to lift the martial law in Rapid City!"

Hearing this, the citizens' faces brightened.

A portion of the Salvation Army (mainly the Black Hats) often extort shops, rudely disturb the public and seize unowned property, but this kind of military discipline is a model of morality for most Imperial infantry.

The presence of the black-clad soldiers did not cause much harm to the citizens, but they still felt uncomfortable. The feeling of fear and lack of freedom was really unbearable.

This news is undoubtedly great news for them.

“In the next month, we will gradually withdraw the legions from Rapid City, leaving only one legion stationed in the Uffizi Palace and one legion stationed in the port area.

At the same time, the Pope of Redemption discussed with various city councilors the current refugee resettlement and reconstruction issues in Rapid City.

After all, as an ally, the Papal State of Savior has an obligation to help and support Rapid City."

"Holy Trinity, we praise your greatness."

"You are simply Sinatus reincarnated!"

The citizens immediately began to praise Horne, comparing him to Sinatus, a famous politician during the Kingdom of the Seven Hills.

Hearing such praise, Horn couldn't help laughing after thinking about it for a moment.

He had to admit that these citizens were very knowledgeable. He wasn't trying to praise them, but they were quite good at selecting the right people.

Sinatus was the temporary dictator during the Kingdom of the Seven Hills. He rescued the army of Aiur that was besieged by barbarians. After the victory, he retired and served as dictator for only 17 days.

They compared themselves to the Aiel army besieged by barbarians, and praised Horn as the fame-hungry Sinatus, trying to lure Horn to return power.

I wonder how long they spent rummaging through piles of old papers before finding such a vivid metaphor.

But alas, their attempt to regain power is likely to fail.

Horn held his hands together and said with a smile:

“…The second thing is actually quite simple. Due to the current situation in Rapid City, we are unable to deal with external affairs independently.

Therefore, after the unanimous decision of the city councilors, Rapid City will join the Papal State of Savior as a papal vassal municipality!

This means that in addition to the city of Grand Rapids and its suburbs, the surrounding rural areas and small towns will become part of the Savior Army's jurisdiction. "

The crowd was silent at first, then started talking again, but compared to the last time, the attitude this time was obviously much more negative.

There were even some heartless people who said things like "letting a wolf into the house" or "As expected, he came with a purpose".

The city councillors who knew about this immediately calmed the believers in the crowd: "Don't be afraid, vassalage is a higher form of alliance!"

"We just do what we are supposed to do. Is there any difference from before?"

"Now that the Saviors have left and the Knights are coming again, who can help us? Should we continue to count on Catherine to govern?"

After being suppressed by the city councilors, although the citizens were still talking about it, the opposition was much smaller after being fooled by these opinion leaders.

Horn's fingers tapped unconsciously on the podium, his eyes scanning the many citizens in front of him:
"Then the third and final item is about the current Rapid City Governor, Catherine."

All the believers present looked a little unnatural, they all knew that the main part of the show was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)